Audubon: Decision to Block the Keystone XL Pipeline Is Good for Birds and People
Most Americans want clean energy that protects birds, people and the land and water we all depend on. Keystone XL offers none of that.
LINCOLN, Neb. — Today, in response to Judge Brian Morris blocking the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, citing the Trump Administration’s dismissal of the potential environmental impact as well as the impact on our changing climate, National Audubon Society issued the following statement:
“Sound science and common sense both suggest the Keystone XL pipeline is a dangerous and unnecessary boondoggle that puts millions of birds and people at risk,” said Bill Taddicken, director of Audubon Nebraska’s Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary. “We should be focusing on safe, clean energy sources instead of investing in dirty technologies of the past.”
“This pipeline would bulldoze a path right through some of the most vulnerable habitat for birds and important water sources for people. The Ogallala aquifer, which supplies water to Nebraska's farms and communities and supports the migration of the Sandhill Cranes—one of the most stunning bird migrations on the planet—would be especially threatened. These cranes are also one of 314 species of North American birds that are already at risk due to climate change. This pipeline would only make their future and ours more uncertain.”
In 2014, Audubon published its Birds and Climate Change Report. The study shows that more than half of the bird species in North America, including species like the Bald Eagle, American Kestrel and Sandhill Cranes, could lose at least half of their current ranges by 2080 due to rising temperatures. Given the urgent threat climate change poses birds and people, Audubon supports common-sense, bipartisan solutions that reduce carbon pollution at the speed and scale necessary.
To learn more about Audubon’s Climate Initiative, including how members and supporters can take steps to help birds in a changing climate, please visit www.audubon.org/climate.
The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon’s state programs, nature centers, chapters and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, Audubon’s vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Audubon is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more at www.audubon.org and @audubonsociety.
Contact: Nicolas Gonzalez, ngonzalez@audubon.org, (212) 979-3068.
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